Astronomers Uncover the Most Voracious Black Hole of the Early Universe

Summary:
Astronomers have discovered LID-568, the hungriest black hole in the early universe, consuming over seven million solar masses in just 12 million years. Detected with NASA’s Chandra Observatory and JWST, this black hole challenges theoretical growth limits and offers insights into how black holes grew rapidly after the Big Bang. JWST’s advanced tools were essential in pinpointing its position and revealing its extreme feeding mechanism.

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered the most ravenous black hole from the early universe. Named LID-568, this black hole consumed over seven million solar masses within just 12 million years, far exceeding theoretical growth limits. The finding helps explain how some black holes in the early universe grew so massive in a relatively short time.

“This black hole is having a feast,” remarked Julia Scharwächter, an astronomer at the International Gemini Observatory and co-author of the study.

Earlier observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST revealed galaxies in the early universe hosting black holes with hundreds of millions to billions of solar masses. However, how these black holes formed and expanded so quickly remained a mystery. The discovery of LID-568 provides valuable insights by capturing one in the midst of its rapid growth phase.

A Record-Breaking Cosmic Appetite
LID-568, located 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, was identified via luminous X-ray emissions during a cosmic survey. Due to its faint nature, pinpointing its location was challenging, but JWST’s integral field spectrograph proved essential.

“This extreme case demonstrates a feeding mechanism beyond the Eddington limit, offering a potential explanation for the existence of such massive black holes in the early universe,” said Emanuele Farina, another co-author and astronomer at the International Gemini Observatory.

This discovery deepens our understanding of black hole evolution and raises new questions about the mechanisms driving their rapid growth in the early cosmos.

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